Big house/tiny garden

[Wanttomovehouse]

We have been vaguely looking to move house for a couple of years. We are now on the market with lots of viewings and positive feedback but no offers as yet. We have seen a new build on a small development which ticks every box regarding rooms and sizes that we have been looking for but has a very small garden. They are offering part exchange on the house.

DH thinks garden is not so important to us as DC's are beyond needing the garden so much and there is a large common one minute away. We intend to stay there until we retire/downsize. My concern is that this is a very expensive 5 bed detached house and once the lovely shiny newness has worn off and we finally need to move away it will be very difficult to sell.
Would you consider it or is the tiny garden a real deal breaker

[DelGirl]

I think that's still a decent size, though it does depend on how much of it is 15ft. Look at it a different way, you have a 15/30ft wide garden that is 80 ft long! Quite big. What does it back onto?

[MrsJollyPostman]

I would compromise on the size of the garden in this case. We looked at a new build and decided against it as we decided, ultimately, the the garden and lack of space surrounding the house could be a real issue when it comes to reselling. Not only because there is a lack of space for families, but also it limits any extensions or other future work someone may want to do (we were looking at 3 beds so I imagine this wouldn't be so much of an issue for you.
However, my mum lives in a 4 bed Victorian semi constructed of local granite, it is a very unique house and gets a lot of interest, despite obviously having a small garden, she gets a lot of people asking her about selling and she's not even put it on the market. So if the house does have something 'unique' about it, you maybe able to get away with it.
Would you still want this house if your house had sold by now? I think it can be easy to see these schemes as an easy fix.

[bumbez]

Sarahd - it didn't put us off, we lived very happily in our last house for 8 years. It was a good size Edwardian 5 bedrooms, 3 receptions in a good location. I can't remember the actual size of the garden but it was wider than it was long.

I would far rather have a big house and a smaller garden if that's all I could afford.

It took 9 months to sell, which isn't too bad in this climate.

[yomellamoHelly]

That size garden would stop me from buying it. Sounds out of proportion.

[jaynebxl]

I certainly wouldn't pass up on a lovely house that ticked all my boxes just cos it had a small garden. We have a big garden now but are moving to a lovely house with a smaller garden. For 5 months a year we only go in the garden to feed the hens. For the rest of the year we are out at the park as often as we use the garden, and as my children get bigger I figure they need the space less. However we use the space in our house all year round.

[LittleFrieda]

I think a garden should be at least as long as it is wide. Narrow town houses are fine with a shallow garden, but a big detached house on a wide shallow strip is a bit peculiar.

[notcitrus]

Small garden fine by me - provides space for small children to play and adults to enjoy, no lawn to mow, and nearby park when they are bigger.

And mine is about 20 feet by 15 with a 6 bed house - but not much smaller than average for London. Reflected in the price - some will be put off but others will be rejoicing they can afford more house for their money.

[jaynebxl]

Is the garden really that small if it is 80ft wide? It's certainly more than a pocket handkerchief!

[HormonalHousewife]

For me, a small garden would and has been a deal breaker. But a lot depends on the price, at 200k a small garden would be expected but at 1m I would anticipate a substantial plot. Also it depends on what is the norm in your area.

I wouldnt have a problem with no garden if I were 3m minutes walk from the beach. Looking at you MrsSmooth

[mrssmooth]

Also have a lovely (or will be when the decorating's finished!) big Edwardian house with a fairly small garden at the back, but with a weird access type area to the side with a little courtyard bit. Initially we wanted to have a house with a decent sized garden but as our dds are a little bit older now, we decided to concentrate on the space inside the house for the moment. (It helps that we are literally 3 minutes walk away from the beach though!) It's funny the things you change on your "absolutely must have" tick list when you start househunting when you find "the" house!

[Levantine]

When we were househunting we looked at a lovely big house with a tiny corner garden and the garden was a deal breaker.

[Rhubarbgarden]

A small garden would always be a deal breaker for me personally.

[ogredownstairs]

We did too, but I think the difference is that in our bit of London all the gardens are titchy. So a 36 foot garden with a 2000 square ft house is pretty normal, even generous, round here. Agree about dcs growing out of needing big gardens - but the resale factor totally depends on area...not helpful I know! The thing that would concern me more is anything 'funny shaped.' PiL's newbuild detached house is oddly wedge shaped on a triangular plot and I know it's going to be more difficult for them to sell when the time comes.

[ohforfoxsake]

We compromised on the garden, and it's OK. I'd rather have a garden big enough to play footy in, but we figured kids need less out door space and the indoor space matters as they get older.

The older ones can now take themselves to the park, have their own rooms and a rumpus room and the garden is big enough for a trampoline and a playhouse for the younger DCs.

The house is an Edwardian semi and it is lovely so I think it was the right decision or us.

[BackforGood]

It would put me - and quite a lot of other buyers - off, but ultimately, there's a buyer for every house out there. You probably would lose out a bit financially on resale (as I think you do with all sales of 'brand spanking new houses') but, if you think of that money being spread over the 20 years or so you will be living there, and factor in the real "plus" point of the hassle of selling being removed by part exchanging now, then if you don't need the garden, I think I could justify it to myself in your shoes. There will be another family like yourselves just looking for similar when you come to sell.

[kitsmummy]

too small. If it was all 30-40ft long then it would be ok, but some of it only 15ft long? just way too small.

[SarahD1973]

Just picked up on this link whilst looking into big houses with small gardens. I realise this feed is a bit out of date now but I wanted to try and find out if Wanttomovehouse came to a conclusion about whether to buy or not?!!

We're looking for a new home, we've found one we like, in a prestigious road in a great location. The house is big but the garden is relatively small in comparison to the house size. It's not really a problem for me as such but thinking ahead, if we sell, could it be problematic? It's west facing which is plus. What to do....we're thinking of going in with an offer which we consider a good one bearing in mind the lack of garden v size of house.

[CointreauVersial]

I don't think that sounds too small, more like the norm on new-builds.

You are thinking of buying it, so why wouldn't someone else?

As long as you negotiate a "discount" to compensate for the lowering in value that you attach to it, then you can pass that on when you eventually sell.

[SingingTunelessly]

Agree with other posters - large house/tiny garden is a no no. The majority of buyers looking for a large family home want the garden to match.

[tyler80]

Generally I think tiny gardens would put me off. The exception might be a small garden but not overlooked. Modern estates with 10m gardens all round - no way, older houses with smaller gardens that all back onto a woodland - not so much of a problem.

We've looked round some of the modern estates and it's the lack of space around them that puts me off, and it's way smaller than other properties in this area, e.g. we went and looked at a 2 bed semi, well below average price, with a 80m garden. Of course, if you live in an area where smaller gardens are the norm it might not be so much of a hindrance.

[smashingtime]

We have a good sized detached house and a small garden (approx 60ft wide and 30ft long). It will be the reason I move from here ultimately - I want some space around me! As you say, it might be impossible to get both the house and garden depending on your location and the general size of gardens in your town. Most of the houses in our village have small gardens - even some of the huge houses so is the norm for where I live!

[goldenpeach]

No. We ruled out small gardens and we won't have buy a house with a tiny one, we had 60ft in our London semi! This means we have been looking for ages, but fingers crossed, we might have found something now! We are paying more than expected but the huge garden and garage make up for it!

[Wanttomovehouse]

Oh sorry. Live in a small town so most of the more expensive houses have large gardens although due the desirability of the area and an extreme shortage of land many of these gardens are now being sold off for small development such as this one.

[lalalonglegs]

It's hard to tell from your post if that is normal for houses in your area (Edwardian houses aside) or not - certainly around here, some very expensive houses only have about 15-20ft long "garden" and that's the compromise you make to live in these streets. If it's the norm, you have nothing much to lose, otherwise I would avoid it.

[Wanttomovehouse]

The house is 3000 sq ft +.
Where I live there are number of roads with large 1920's onwards houses with large gardens. Even if we could afford one, these houses very rarely come up for sale. The rest are predominantly Victorian terraces with no off road parking and small square gardens mixed in with 1960's and 70's.